 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Australian duo Matthew Ebden and John Peers won the gold medal in the Olympic tennis men's doubles as they beat American pair Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram 6-7 (6), 7-6 (1), 10-8 on Saturday.
After dropping their first set of the week, the two 36-year-olds also trailed 4-2 in the second set but recovered the momentum to set up a super tiebreak.
The Australians moved 9-5 ahead but were pegged back to 9-8 before Peers produced an ice-cool volley after his serve and then pounded away a smash to seal victory.
It is only Australia's second Olympic tennis gold after Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won in Atlanta in 1996.
Peers added gold to the bronze he claimed in the mixed doubles alongside Ash Barty at the Tokyo Games.
The Americans, with 40-year-old Ram, one of three former doubles world number ones on court, showed his quality.
But he dropped serve at 4-3 in the second set and that proved a turning point in the match as the Australians raced through the second-set tiebreak to set up a decider.
A remarkable pick-up by Peers saw the Australian almost end up in the front row of Court Phillipe Chatrier and Krajicek then sent a smash wide to make it 7-2 in the first-to-10 decider.
The US pair saved three match points to leave Peers with a serve for gold. With his daughter crossing her fingers in stands, he finished the job to start the Australian party.
The bronze medal match will be between Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul and Czech duo Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek later at Roland Garros.
Czech duo Siniakova and Machac win mixed doubles gold
Czech pair Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac won the Olympic mixed doubles gold medal with victory in the final against China's Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen on Friday.
Doubles specialist Siniakova and Machac, who are in a relationship off the court, combined superbly and held their nerve in a tense finale to win 6-2, 5-7, 10-8.
The Czechs hardly put a foot wrong in the first set but Zhang and Wang, the second Chinese pair to reach an Olympic doubles final, raised their level in the second, pushing the match into a superb tiebreak.
"Super tight breaks are tough because they can go either way but I think the mindset was really good, we fought until the end," Siniakova, a nine-times Grand Slam doubles champion, told reporters.
The Czech also won a women's doubles gold medal on her Olympic debut in Tokyo.
"I don't like to compare because every trophy, every medal is really amazing and has different emotion, different feelings," she said. "I am proud and I'm happy that we could achieve the medal and we got the gold."
Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Gabriela Dabrowski beat Dutch pair Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof to take the bronze.
Machac will seek another medal on Saturday when he pairs up with Adam Pavlasek against Americans Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz for the men's doubles bronze.
